98 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



manure was used. Set them by line, and raked in twenty- 

 five pounds Stockbridge strawberry fruit manure on each 

 row, previous to setting. Ninety-nine out of every loo 

 plants grew, scarcely a plant wilted. Second day after set- 

 ting, May 2 2. raked entire piece with common garden rake 

 and again ten days later. After that, cultivated with 

 horse every ten days till September i, narrowing cultivator 

 each time, allowing plants to make wide matted rows. 

 June 8, sowed 8oo pounds cotton seed meal on the rows; 

 June 26, sowed 2,000 pounds fine ground bone on the rows; 

 November i, 100 bushels ashes, mostly from soft wood and 

 containing about twenty per cent of air-slaked lime mixed 

 through them; November 30, spread six or seven tons bog 

 hay evenly over entire surface — during winter a few loads 

 of coarse manure on the rows to help hold the covering 

 during our March winds; April 22, uncovered the rows, 

 leaving hay in the paths; May 2, 100 bushels of wood 

 ashes were sowed on the rows. Picked first crate June 19 

 and last quart of berries July 30. I sprayed the plants as 

 soon as leaves began to grow, and again as the first blos- 

 soms appeared, using eight pounds sulphate copper and 

 eight lime, one-fourth pound Paris Green to fifty gallons 

 water, five pounds each — all I now use. No runners were 

 cut except to prevent mixing where two varieties were 

 likely to run together. Some will ask. Where is there any- 

 thing new in this, or why not keep on in same way with 

 same varieties? These questions, each must determine for 

 himself. That land and those two seasons were favorable 

 for that kind of treatment. 



Virgin soil, we all know, is best for strawberries, as a 

 rule, but we cannot always get it to use; therefore, the 

 most important question is, how can we renew the soil so 

 as to use it again for same fruit. Possibly Crimson Clover 

 will do for you, but I use the large red. As soon as I can 

 after strawberries are picked, plow in the old vines and 

 mulching, sow one-half bushel big clover and one bushel 

 barley or oats on each acre. This thin sowing of grain 

 helps the clover to catch and though it does not head out 

 in fall, usually it grows tall enough, if sown before August 

 15, so that when frost kills it, it stands up enough to catch 



